Is Congress becoming sophomoric? | The Business Ethics Blog

? How far do we want to take automation? | Home

By Lauren | May 21, 2012

NPR ran a fun story this morning highlighting research by Lee Drutman, a political scientist professor and senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation. Dr. Drutman has reportedly analyzed the Congressional Record and found that Congress? ranking on the Flesch-Kincaid scale ? a computer algorithym which evaluates readability ? has dropped almost one full grade level since 2005. NPR reported that members of Congress once spoke on an 11th-grade level, but are now down to about the middle of the tenth grade. It?s almost impossible to resist the slightly scary but highly entertaining conclusion that the level of discourse on Capitol Hill is becoming increasingly sophomoric.

And this is news, right?

Having had my giggle, however, I?m not sure that Dr. Drutman?s research supports the punch line. The Flesch-Kincaid scale reportedly equates higher grade levels with the use of longer sentences and words with more syllables. That works well when comparing first graders to college graduates, but may not necessarily be as effective when analyzing adult conversation. One could, conceivably, presume that it?s highly preferable to identify and address the several contributing causes of complex social dilemmas by describing them in the most complicated, polysyllabic verbage at one?s disposal, especially if one?s ultimate objective was to successfully achieve a preferred legislative solution that might be politically unpopular while preserving one?s favorability ratings with one?s less erudite constituents. (How am I doing?) Then again, if a legislator actually wants to connect honestly with voters, shorter sentences and simpler words might well be better tools. Less elegant, perhaps, but more effective.

Kudos to Dr. Drutman for mapping the change in Congressional discourse, but I hope we ultimately discover that Congress isn?t dumbing down so much as it is trying to be more forthright. There?s long been a plain English movement in the legal profession, based on the theory that our clients deserve to understand what we do for them and not to be drowned in a deluge of florid prose. If that movement is finding its way to Congress, so much the better. From a social ethics perspective, it?s a vast improvement if American voters (who typically read on an 8th-9th grade level) actually understand what their elected officials are doing. From a business ethics perspective, I think it?s even better if Congress starts writing laws that corporations can?t pretend to misunderstand. We might not be able to get down to something as clear-cut as Google?s famous ?don?t be evil? maxim. Still, when it comes to legislating good business practices, simple beats sophisticated every time.

To read the NPR story, click here.

Topics: Business Ethics, Legal Ethics, Social Ethics, business communications, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |

Comments

charlotte bobcats denver broncos new york rangers nfl mock draft 2012 norfolk island michael brockers lisa marie presley